Sphaerolobium racemulosum Benth.

Scientific Description

Erect or prostrate,spreading or scrambling, shrub, spindly shrub (broom-like). Stems terete, not spiny, glabrous; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades absent or apparently so (reduced to scales), simple, alternate, not continuous with stem, glabrous, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, 0.5; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves. Pedicel present, 2.5 mm long, glabrous. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6-8 mm long, not accrescent, glabrous, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 11.5-15 mm long, uniformly coloured, red, mostly red or orange, with some red or orange spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 8.5-12 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 8-11 mm long, not auriculate, keel 8-8.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments free (or united at the very base), 4-8 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy or glandular; style 10-13.5 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), 5.5-6 mm long, 4-4.5 mm wide, stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, glabrous, not beaked. Flowers in July, August, September and October. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Jarrah Forest, Warren and Esperance IBRA regions.